Polish Art Research Articles

‘Archetypal Load of Tension’: Idiosyncratic Idioms of Surrealism Created by Aleksander Krzywobłocki and Margit Reich-Sielska in the 1930s in Lviv

This article examines the artistic contributions of two members of the ‘artes’ group, active in Lviv (Lwów during the interwar period) from 1929 to 1935: Aleksander Krzywobłocki (1901–1979) and Margit Reich-Sielska (1900–1980). Situated within the ‘artes’ milieu, which emerged as the most cohesive community among phenomena with a surrealist profile in the history of Polish art, their creative endeavors have faded from the collective memory of subsequent generations of art historians and critics, both within and beyond Poland. With the aim of elucidating the distinctive characteristics of Krzywobłocki and Sielska’s artistic attitudes, deeply rooted in the cultural landscape of interwar Galicia, this study explores their work as both manifestations of the avant-garde milieu in Lviv and contributions to the transnational surrealist movement. This examination takes a relational approach, considering their artistic output within a framework of trans-local and trans-regional connections. Drawing upon the works of various surrealists active in different European centers, I juxtapose the artistic approaches of Krzywobłocki and Sielska with other practitioners of the movement to highlight both convergences and differences in their expressions. By situating their artistic profiles within the broader modalities of surrealism as a polycentric movement and within the unique cultural context of Lviv—a city marked by its multiethnic, multicultural, and multiconfessional character—I argue that their imaginings should be classified as idiosyncratic idioms of surrealism. This hybrid expression, which developed on the peripheries of European artistic hubs, is primarily distinguished by an ‘archetypal load of tension’—a continual quest for archetypal content that has been lost in the modern world.

Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie – Uniwersytetowi Jagiellońskiemu w 600. rocznicę założenia uczelni

On the occasion of the 660th foundation anniversary of the Academy of Krakow, which fell in 2023, the article takes a closer look at a theme that has not been explored in the academic literature, namely the contribution of the staff of Poland’s oldest national museum in Krakow to the celebrations marking the 600th anniversary of the academy in 1964 with an exhibition entitled Art in Krakow, 1350–1550. It was a monumental exhibition, which is worth recalling so as not to erase the traces of this initiative. The curator of the exhibition for the 600th foundation anniversary of the Jagiellonian University was Maria Kopff. In organising it, she worked with great dedication and devotion, and it was thanks to this exhibition that she gained great professional and moral authority in the museum community, and on many occasions her opinions influenced the most important museum issues in Poland. It was the exhibition that synchronised monuments of sacred art with monuments of a secular nature in a manner unprecedented in the Polish People’s Republic, all in an attempt to show the luxuriant development of Polish art from the 14th to the 16th century. Although the content of the exhibition was close to the so-called ‘historical policy’, exposing, among other things, the secular character of Cracovian art, it undoubtedly presented the enormous achievements of Polish national heritage.

Тема катынского расстрела в романе Елены Катишонок Джек, который построил дом

The article presents an analysis of the thread of Yelena Katishonok’s novel Jack Who Built the House (2021), related to the theme of the Katyn massacre. In exploring the context and method of incorporating historical material into a literary text, we proceed from the basic concepts of the “New Historicism”. In the narrative about the fates of modern heroes, the writer weaves a thread related to the history of Poland, namel the arrests of Polish officers in 1939, the Katyn massacre, the formation of the Polish Anders’ Army on the territory of the USSR and the commemoration of the victims in Katyn after the war. The fate of the character associated with this thread, Stanislaw Warzynski, is in many ways the biography of a Polish artist who survived in Katyn, Józef Czapski. Katishonok depicts not only memories of historical events, but above all the efforts of several generations to commemorate the victims.

Mural as a Living Element of Urban Space: Seasonal Dynamics and Social Perception of “The Four Seasons with Kora” in Warsaw

Street art, with a particular emphasis on murals, plays a crucial role in shaping the cultural DNA of contemporary cities. A prime example of this is the mural “Four Seasons with Kora” in Warsaw, which is dedicated to the renowned Polish artist Kora (Olga Jackowska). This large-scale mural, which combines the artist’s portrait with a chestnut tree motif, visually changes with the season, influencing the artist’s social perception. This study analyzed murals’ functions in social, cultural, and ecological contexts, highlighting their role in informal education and as a platform for social dialogue and integration. Using research methods such as visual analysis and examining comments and reactions on social media, this work aimed to understand how a mural integrates with its surroundings and is perceived throughout different seasons. The results indicated that the mural has become an important element of public space, not only for beautifying the city but also for stimulating social and cultural reflection.

SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM OF PRZEMYSLAW LIS-MARKIEWICZ’S NOVELS

The work outlines the artistic space-time as an author's model of the world, its main features and functioning in the works of the contemporary Polish writer Przemysław Lis‑Markiewicz. The paradigm of space-time discourse is studied on the basis of the novels "Confession of the Spirit" and "Moskal". The article indicates that the plot of novels by Przemysław Lis‑Markiewicz, which also depict Ukrainian history, unfolds in a linear perspective, each chapter is marked with dates according to the calendar time. The works synthesize calendar, event and perceptual time. The spatial picture of the works is built on open and closed models of the world, macro- and microcosm. The study of the implementation specifics for the concepts of time and space made it possible to point out the relationship between the historical / character chronotope, the role of retrospection and prospection in the novels of the Polish artist. The chronotope of novels is determined by the narrative strategy, the author's intention, and the genre structure. "Confession of the Spirit" is perceived as the author's attempt to understand the formation of personality in the complex period of social and political events of the late 19th – 20th centuries and is defined as a novel-biography. The novel "Moskal" is considered as a synthesis of documentary and psychological, which testified the author's attention to social and political, spiritual problems of a person in a border situation, a historical and political novel. The article traces peculiarities of the artistic interpretation of Ukrainian geographical and cultural spaces, realized in artistic works. The space-time in the author's novels reflects the essence of the spiritual and material world of the inhabitants of the Ukrainian-Polish border, acts as a marker of the identity of the inhabitants of the region, which appears as a certain palimpsest construction, signifying the memory of Ukrainians and Poles, their narratives. In his novels, Przemysław Lis-Markiewicz unfolds the space of Ukraine in the days of wars or political vicissitudes, emphasizing the tragic pages of history.

<i>Gesamtkunstwerk</i> Transcriptions in the Polish Theatrical Avant-Garde

When considering the concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk in the context of the avant-garde, it seems useful to use the term transcription, borrowed from musical terminology, which denotes the development of a composition for a different instrument, voice or ensemble than originally intended. From this perspective, we can speak of a transcription of Wagner’s concept to other areas of the arts. In Polish theater studies, the notion of the Gesamtkunstwerk appears often. Usually Wagner’s concept is cited as one of many inspirations of selected artists and their artistic practices. As far as the activities of artists among the Polish theatrical avant-garde are concerned, this inspiration seems to be obvious. In this article, I attempt to show how the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk functions in selected works of Polish artists, such as Zbigniew Pronaszko, Jerzy Grotowski and Tadeusz Kantor. These artists consciously refer to the Wagnerian idea by perceiving the work of theater art primarily as a tool of possible social change.

Pamiątki po Wisławie Szymborskiej w zbiorach Biblioteki Naukowej PAU i PAN w Krakowie

Keepsakes of Wisława Szymborska in the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Cracow collection As the year 2023 was announced the Year of Wisława Szymborska due to the 100th anniversary of her birth, it is a great opportunity to present the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Krakow. They have been gathered in the period from 1953 to 2011 and were not collected in a planned manner: they come from separate donations, legacies or purchases. These are poetry books published during Szymborska’s life (7), Italian issues in Pietro Marchesani’s translation with original collages or watercolours by Alina Kalczyńska, donated by her or a painter Leszek Dutka (5). The manuscripts collection contains 5 letters of the Poet to Witold Zechenter from the period 1970 1976 and her dedications in the books she gave to him in the period from 1953 to 1976 (9); these and numerous other dedications were cut out by Zechenter from books and kept as loose cards. Two dedications have been decorated with cutouts. Also the bookplates collection of the Library Printing Room contains 7 bookplates produced for Wisława Szymborska by respected Polish artists: Zbigniew Osenkowski, Roman Mucha, Czesław Woś, Helena Sawicka and Leszek Frey-Witkowski as well as two etching matrices of Stanisław Dawski’s works. Despite varying provenance and incompleteness, the keepsakes of Wisława Szymborska constitute an interesting collection for researchers and enthusiasts of her work. keepsakes of Wisława Szymborska constitute an interesting collection for researchers and enthusiasts of her work.

Dialogue between the Concept of the Object in the Theater of Tadeusz Kantor and the Theatrical Praxis of the Periférico de Objetos

Tadeusz Kantor was a Polish artist and theater director who directly influenced the conceptual understanding of theater, especially in Argentina following two visits to Buenos Aires with his troupe Cricot 2 in the 1980s. He exerted a particularly strong influence on the Periférico de Objetos [The Periphery of Objects], a troupe founded in Buenos Aires in 1989 by Daniel Veronese, Ana Alvarado and Emilio García Wehbi, labelled by critics as “the Argentine theatre of the image”. Despite radically different socio-cultural contexts, elements arising from Kantor’s theater practices (especially his idea of the “poor object” and his concept of “reality of the lowest rank”) acquired distinctly different meanings in Latin America from those coined by Kantor. A nuanced examination of the Periférico de Objetos indicates that Kantor’s concepts, which in their original context resisted politicization, played an important role in the creation of a socially and politically engaged theatre. His concepts, adapted to local realities by the Periférico de Objetos, were reflected in debates surrounding the recent Argentinian past, most notably, the post-dictatorship period.

Polish Hip Hop at Home and Abroad

Taco Hemingway is one of Poland’s most popular rappers, becoming the first Polish artist to be streamed a billion times on Spotify. Often described as a fresh voice in the Polish hip hop scene, Hemingway also offers a new perspective due to his status as a return migrant, having lived in the United Kingdom. As such, this article positions Hemingway’s output in the context of migration studies and, specifically, the impact migration has on sending countries. Through Hemingway’s music, the article examines the various stages of migration, from experiences abroad to return and circular migration, while also appraising Hemingway’s work within the context of social remittances—the impact that return migrants have on stayers. It also posits that Hemingway’s oeuvre represents the failure of the “Grand Narrative” of Polish migration, as well as the dissatisfaction that return migrants can feel upon return, choosing ultimately to go back to the country to which they emigrated.

Shards of memory. Stanisław Olexiński, collector from Lviv

This article is devoted to Stanisław Olexiński (1865–1941), a person almost completely unknown, but – as it seems – rather important for the history of art and collecting in Lviv (now Ukraine). Olexiński was the administrative secretary of the Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich (Ossoliński National Institute) since 1919, as well as a well-known collector. His collection was focused mainly on publications on the theory and history of art, and he also gathered a sizeable portion of prints and drawings by Polish artists. Partially preserved correspondence and documents related to Olexiński reveal his passion for collecting and his commercial activities in the artistic community. Letters from well-known artists confirm his commitment and testify to his sturdy activity in acquiring works of art, both by purchasing them directly from the artists. Olexiński exchanged works from his collection with, among others, the Ossoliński Institute, also donated some objects to the City Gallery or the Historical Museum in Lviv. Unfortunately, the fate of the collection remains unknown. After Olexiński’s death in 1941, shortly after the German army entered Lviv, his collection may have been dispersed, sold or destroyed. The last piece of information relating to Olexiński is a letter from Andrzej Lubomirski, curator of the Ossoliński Institute, dated August 1941, indicating that the collector was still popular; nevertheless, it is uncertain whether letter reached him or his wife. The paper presented herein is an attempt to restore the memory of someone who played a relatively substantial role in the cultural life of Lviv’s intellectual and artistic elite.

Entangled History between Semi-Peripheries: Magdalena Abakanowicz’s Fibre Art on the Swedish Art Scene circa 1970

This article examines what role Sweden, as a presumed periphery in Northeastern Europe, played at the turn of the 1960s when Magdalena Abakanowicz and her fellow Polish artists working in fibre material broke new ground moving away from traditional tapestry by working with complex three-dimensional forms. Using the method of a history of crossing, histoire croisée, the article shows how exhibitions with Abakanowicz’s fibre art served many interests at the time, the artist’s own creative development and international career, Swedish art institutions eager to display current experiments in soft environments, the burgeoning Swedish cultural policymaking, and larger structures of cultural diplomacy. The article thus proposes to understand the relation between Sweden and Poland as two semi-peripheries, where the dominant narrative of modern art stemming from Western centres influencing the rest was, in many ways, circumvented.

Baghdad Kept on Working: Painting and Propaganda during the British Occupation of Iraq, 1941–45

This article explores the late-colonial context for a wartime encounter between Polish and Iraqi artists during a period of British military reoccupation, 1941–45. Linking E. L. T. Mesens’s propaganda work for the Allied cause to the activities of Polish painters stationed in Baghdad, particularly Józef Czapski (1896–93) and Józef Jarema (1900–1974), and to those of Iraqi artists Jewad Selim (1919–1961) and Jamil Hamoudi (1924–2003), it demonstrates how a consortium of artists and officers came to model a version of modern art construed as free inquiry into form, or “art alone.” Polish artists mobilized propagandistic narratives about threats to civilization, including the loss of Paris as an open city. Responses by Iraqi artists both reflect and refract the Allied version of civilizational values. As such, the Polish-Iraqi encounter represents an early, not-yet-postwar reckoning with doubts about the progression of artistic practice in a world in which barbarous violence was always imminent.

Polska literatura faktu w Chinach: omówienie i przekłady

The purpose of this paper is to present the history of translation of Polish non-fiction in mainland China from the 1980s to the present. The article divides the translations into three broad categories: anti-fascist literature, exemplified by Tadeusz Borowski and Zofia Nałkowska; reportages, represented by Ryszard Kapuściński; and biographies, diaries and correspondence of renowned Polish artists. The paper includes descriptions of the motives behind the publication of these translations, their reception and information about the translators. It notes that most of the Chinese translations of Polish non-fiction were produced under the influence of significant commemorative events or promotional activities organized by official cultural institutions of both countries.

Kraków? Jerozolima? Problemy z przestrzenią, czasem i tożsamością w wierszu Ryszarda Krynickiego "Tak, jestem"

The article is an attempt at analyzing and interpreting one of the latest and most important poems by Ryszard Krynicki Tak, jestem. A special consideration has been given to three problem areas in the poem: time, space and identity. The author concludes that the poem is a kind of summary of the artistic career of the poet, particularly in the context of identity: as a reconciliation with his own poetic vocation and its consequences. He emphasizes the significant role of equalizing the fate of poets with persecuted Jews in this process, which was accomplished by Marina Cwietajewa. He discusses an original and personal approach to this painful topic against the background of European and Polish artists, who are close to Krynicki.

„Sztuka dla sztuki” czy „sztuka dla narodu”? Działalność artystyczna, krytycznoliteracka oraz wydawnicza Iwana Trusza wobec wyzwań ukraińskiego życia społecznego w Galicji na przełomie XIX i XX wieku

The article is an attempt at reconstructing the artistic and critical literary activity of a Ukrainian painter Iwan Trusz, who noticed a great need of the Ukrainian society to cultivate and develop national art. The Ukrainian artist also contributed to the development of Polish art of that period, as he was highly estimated among Polish intellectuals and took an active part in Polish and Ukrainian cultural enterprises that took place in Lviv at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The experience which Trusz gained during his education in the Cracow Academy of Fine Arts, as well as his direct contact with distinguished Polish painters (e.g. Leon Wyczółkowski, Jan Stanisławski) evoked in the painter a great need to take care of the enrichment of contemporary Ukrainian art and to raise the awareness of Galician Ukrainians about the effect which art has on the formation of every nation. Looking at the activity of Trusz‑an artist or Trusz‑an art critic from the perspective of the 21st century, makes it possible to find the answers to some key questions: “Should national art be promoted?”, “How to educate society through art?” and “What is the role of an artist during the formation of an independent nation?”

The Janus Face of Polish Cultural Diplomacy in Paris during the Khrushchev Thaw

The Khrushchev Thaw allowed Poland a slightly larger margin of freedom in its cultural exchange with Western Europe than it had since the end of the Second World War. In this newly relaxed political climate, two models of Polish cultural diplomacy emerged in the West. The first constituted the official foreign policy of Poland’s communist authorities, while the other remained unofficial, relying on a network of contacts with Poland’s government-in-exile. An examination of contemporary Polish art exhibited in Paris during the 1950s and 1960s reveals this dichotomy. The first type of cultural patronage was coordinated in Paris by communist representatives of the Polish Embassy. The second emerged in Paris within Polish political émigré circles. Its key proponents were the Literary Institute (Instytut Literacki), including the intellectual and artistic milieu of the monthly journal Kultura (“Polish-based Culture”) and the Lambert Gallery (Galeria Lambert). State foreign policy, funded by the state budget and anchored in agreements between Poland and France on cultural cooperation determined the former, while the latter constituted an oppositional stance against the Eastern Bloc, deriving its strength from the resolve of Polish political émigré circles, their extensive network of sympathetic foreign contacts, and an understanding of the mechanics of the art market. The communist model sought to build a friendly image of Polish culture despite the apparent ideological rift between Eastern and Western Europe. The émigré approach stemmed from a refusal to accept the political division of Europe and involved searching the world of art for evidence of forces in Poland that opposed the political status quo. Finally, the patronage model adopted by communist authorities followed the state-imposed policy of favoring figurative art over Polish abstract art, whereas the model championed by émigré circles pursued the opposite strategy. It showcased unrestrained, spontaneous, and mostly abstract art. It evidenced an affinity for international trends in the art of the time, including abstract expressionism and, in particular, Parisian Art Informel. How can these two strands of cultural diplomacy co-exist? Which resonated more with international audiences?

Maski z kościoła w Inowrocławiu. Znaczenie płaskorzeźby romańskiej oraz jej miejsce w historii sztuki

The last twenty years have seen intensified research into Romanesque architecture n Poland. This paper addresses the issue of Romanesque sculpture and presents it by means of describing several projecting reliefs preserved in the Romanesque, partially reconstructed, church dedicated to the Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a symbol of Inowrocław. The church is important for the local community. Many publications on Romanesque masks and representations have been published since the 19th century, also recently. It is worth noticing that the opinions of researchers in the fields of history and history of art are inconsistent. This text addresses the ensemble of Inowrocław sculptures analysed from a contemporary research and methodological perspective in respect of the history of medieval art, as such an approach allows for complementing the state of research. Artistic analogies, aesthetic sources, and the practice of ornamenting the Houses of God with stone masks have been presented, and new interpretations of iconography, form, and meaning have been discussed. Formal issues concerning artistic geography, style, significance, meaning, and technique have been considered and compared. Besides, extensive reference has been made to the interpretation of the law of the frame. Another reference has been made with regard to the issue of the cultural meaning that was later provided to these popular artistic objects in Polish art history. A stylistic genesis and the closest formal analogies have been indicated. The starting point for the considerations presented herein was the notion of sites of memory.

Neo-Byzantine traditions in the work of Helena-Maria Schramm – Boichukist artists from the Polish-Ukrainian border

The article is devoted to the work of a rather unknown Polish artist and a student of Mykhailo Boychuk of the Paris period, Helena Schramm. The works of the artist of a religious and secular nature, executed in the manner of Mykhailo Boychuk „neo-Byzantinism” in the technique of tempera and painting on glass, were known in the Polish artistic environment of the 1920s. However, with the death of the artist, her work was forgotten, and her memory was preserved in the family village of Olkhova on the Polish- Ukrainian border of the Carpathian region.

Radio: An instrument in art – with reference to selected works by Polish artists

This article explores the role of the radio as an artistic instrument. It discusses both contemporary and historical art experiments, namely those where the sound of the radio or the form of radio reception is an important aspect of the final work. We examine the question, ‘What does it mean for a radio to be an instrument?’ And to clarify, we mean any kind of instrument, not just a musical one. To answer this question, this article focuses on the concepts and theory of those Polish artists who have used radio in their artwork, either as the source of a particular type of sound or as a medium that collects and transmits the sound of its surroundings.

Witnessing the Suffering of Others in Watercolor and Pencil: Jadwiga Simon-Pietkiewicz’s Holocaust Art Exhibited in Sweden, 1945–46

Abstract In the Holocaust’s immediate aftermath (1945–1946), a small gallery in Lund, Sweden exhibited the paintings and drawings of Polish artist Jadwiga Simon-Pietkiewicz, which depicted her former fellow inmates in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. This exhibit and subsequent exhibitions elsewhere in Sweden marked rare instances of early postwar Holocaust art displayed in a country that had been relatively unaffected by the Holocaust. By analyzing the response of the Swedish public and press to the artwork in these exhibits, as well as Swedish and international responses to “atrocity photos” of the liberation, the author broadens our understanding of Holocaust art, early testimonies, and agency and resistance during and after the Holocaust.